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Investor ProtectorsMon, 25 Feb 2019 15:19:39 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=5.0.3DENVER TRADING – PRECIOUS METALS FRAUDSTERS WARNED TO PAY COMPENSATION OR FACE LONGER PRISON SENTENCEShttp://investor-protectors.com/2019/01/03/denver-trading-precious-metals-fraudsters-warned-to-pay-compensation-or-face-longer-prison-sentences/
http://investor-protectors.com/2019/01/03/denver-trading-precious-metals-fraudsters-warned-to-pay-compensation-or-face-longer-prison-sentences/#respondThu, 03 Jan 2019 12:16:29 +0000http://investor-protectors.com/?p=1590Three fraudsters – including one from Pamber Heath – who are already serving lengthy jail sentences over a £7.75 million precious metal scam have now been told their sentences will be even longer if they do nor compensate their victims. Three fraudsters – including one from Pamber Heath – who are already serving lengthy jail sentences over a £7.75 million ...

Three fraudsters – including one from Pamber Heath – who are already serving lengthy jail sentences over a £7.75 million precious metal scam have now been told their sentences will be even longer if they do nor compensate their victims.

Three fraudsters – including one from Pamber Heath – who are already serving lengthy jail sentences over a £7.75 million precious metal scam have now been told their sentences will be even longer if they do nor compensate their victims.

The gang members were convicted at Blackfriars Crown Court last year of a plot to sell investors “worthless barrels of junk” and approximately £3.6m is owed to the 250-odd victims of the scheme.

Ringleaders of the scam, Christopher Sabin, 45, of Eyot House, Church Street, Shoreham, Sevenoaks and Tobias Ridpath, 54, of Wellington Square, Hastings, each received nine years. Now though they have returned to court and been told if they do not pay compensation to their victims they will have to serve even longer.

Another gang member, Nicholas Start, 37, of Spencer Close, Pamber Heath, who pocketed at least £132,000 in commission over a few months received seven years imprisonment after the trial.

His total benefit was calculated as £868,753 and he must pay £153,034 in compensation within three months or serve an additional 18 months imprisonment.

Sabin, whose criminal benefit was calculated as £6.57m, was ordered to pay £14,469 within three months or serve an additional eight months imprisonment.

Ridpath, whose benefit was also £6.57m, was ordered to pay £201,571 within three months or serve an additional two-and-a-half years imprisonment.

Investigators found Sabin’s only real asset was a second-hand Range Rover because his family home is in his partner’s name, but Ridpath has a 40 per cent stake in the property he owns with his wife.

A fourth lower level participant in the scam, William Berkeley, 54, of Barrington Court, Chichester Terrace, Horsham, who received four years, made a nominal £1 compensation payment.

Using a misleading website and inaccurate glossy brochure they either cold-called customers with scripted patter or placed ads offering the opportunity to purchase supposedly lucrative metals vital to 80 per cent of the world’s industry.

Prosecutor David Durose told jurors at the trial of the gang that their organisation, Denver Trading – started by Sabin and Ridpath – was run from a short-term £860 per month office in the City of London.

The court was told Start headed a “prolific” brokerage – London Commodity Markets – and Berkeley took over the Swiss branch of the business after the original director quit, claiming the business “stank horribly.”

One typical investor, Cecil McMurray, invested £243,000 and the court was told he lost a vast amount of money.

Another client bought what he thought was 100 kilos of rare metals in September, 2012 for £39,000. However, two-and-a-half years later that investment was worth just £285.

Investors were said to have lost pension pots and life savings after being duped into investing in the fraud which lasted around a year from spring 2012.

When he jailed them last year Judge Rajeev Shetty told the four scammers: “All the buyers have ended up with worthless barrels of junk, either gathering dust or have long since been disposed of. The loss to them has been total, no one has made one pound back.

“The jury found this was all a scam, a ruthless vehicle designed to rip-off people of their savings and pension pots to make you all wealthy.

“Making as much money as possible was the name of the game and that game is now up.”

]]>http://investor-protectors.com/2019/01/03/denver-trading-precious-metals-fraudsters-warned-to-pay-compensation-or-face-longer-prison-sentences/feed/0WINE INVESTMENT SCAMMER ORDERED TO PAY BACK JUST £22Khttp://investor-protectors.com/2019/01/03/wine-investment-scammer-ordered-to-pay-back-just-22k/
http://investor-protectors.com/2019/01/03/wine-investment-scammer-ordered-to-pay-back-just-22k/#respondThu, 03 Jan 2019 11:59:34 +0000http://investor-protectors.com/?p=1593A solicitor who laundered £100,000 from a fine wine scam on investors through Jamaican bank accounts has been ordered to pay back less than a quarter of the sum. Michael Wilson, 46, set up Global Wine Investments Ltd at plush offices in the City of London to attract orders for cases of high-value plonk. The company raked in £360,716 from ...

FCA probes 18 businesses involved in cryptocurrency transactions FCA probes 18 businesses involved in cryptocurrency transactions Posted on by wLwThe UK financial regulator is probing more than a dozen companies in connection with cryptocurrency transactions amid concerns about growing market risks.The Financial Conduct Authority on Sunday confirmed it was investigating 18 businesses involved in the sale of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. The regulator has also issued alerts and warnings about dozens of companies suspected of cryptocurrency investment scams.Currently, the transfer, purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies is not regulated in the UK. However, companies that sell regulated investments with an underlying cryptocurrency element, may need FCA authorisation to do so depending on their activities.As of November 12, the FCA had opened inquiries into 67 companies involved in the cryptocurrency business, according to the Sunday Telegraph, which obtained the details from the regulator through a Freedom Of Information request.As an industry, we have been calling for the introduction of proportionate regulationOf the 49 inquiries that were subsequently closed, the FCA had issued consumer alerts for 39 firms, according to details of the FOI released on Sunday by the regulator. Alerts are issued by the regulator when it is concerned a company is operating without authorisation, and is a suspected scam.Ten of the 49 inquiries were closed because the company had been warned they may need authorisation to continue their activities, or because there was not enough evidence for the FCA to take matters further.The FCA on Sunday said it would not be comment further on the companies it was still probing. It declined to name them because of its ongoing investigations and commercial concerns for the businesses involved.The UK government earlier this month said it “stands ready” to give the FCA more power to oversee cryptocurrency assets after MPs urged increased regulation of a “ Wild West” market where investor losses and money laundering are deemed big risks.The FCA in October said it was weighing a ban on the sale of derivatives based on cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. If it happens, this will be the regulator’s first major intervention in the market.It is also launching a consultation early next year on whether and how to regulate cryptocurrencies, as well as the trading infrastructure that supports them, including crypto exchanges and digital wallet providers.“As an industry, we have been calling for the introduction of proportionate regulation,” said CryptoUK, a trade association for the UK industry.“Over the coming months we will be working closely with policymakers, including in the FCA, to develop new regulation that strikes the balance between ending bad practice and enabling this exciting industry to flourish, as it does in other countries.”Over the past year, the price of bitcoin has plunged about 80 per cent, leaving many investors nursing heavy losses.

]]>http://investor-protectors.com/2019/01/02/fca-probes-18-businesses-involved-in-cryptocurrency-transactions/feed/0Investigators bust £9m TRUFFLE scam: ‘Remorseless’ fraudsters conned more than 100 people into investing their pension savings in non-existent farmshttp://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/15/investigators-bust-9m-truffle-scam-remorseless-fraudsters-conned-more-than-100-people-into-investing-their-pension-savings-in-non-existent-farms/
http://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/15/investigators-bust-9m-truffle-scam-remorseless-fraudsters-conned-more-than-100-people-into-investing-their-pension-savings-in-non-existent-farms/#respondSat, 15 Dec 2018 11:42:59 +0000http://investor-protectors.com/?p=1605Five companies have been shut down for their part in a £9million scam which saw more than 100 people tricked into investing in fictitious truffle farms. Over the course of six years investors were told their savings were funding oak and hazel tree saplings inoculated with truffle spores at specialist plantations around the world. Investors were told the truffles would ...

Five companies have been shut down for their part in a £9million scam which saw more than 100 people tricked into investing in fictitious truffle farms.

Over the course of six years investors were told their savings were funding oak and hazel tree saplings inoculated with truffle spores at specialist plantations around the world.

Investors were told the truffles would then be cultivated on a commercial scale.

However, investigators from the Government’s Insolvency Service found that no harvesting or cultivation has ever taken place to date at any of the plantations.

Over 100 people were tricked into investing over £9million in fictitious truffle farms

After a four-day trial, five connected companies were wound up by the High Court in London, including Viceroy Jones New Tech, Viceroy Jones Overseas, Westcountrytruffles, Truffle Sales and Credit Free.

The court found that the companies devised ‘convoluted contractual structures’ and manipulated costs to secure high-value investments.

For example, investors paid anywhere between £750 and £995 per sapling with the promise they would see significant returns within five years after the truffles had been cultivated.

However, at the same time similar inoculated saplings were available to the public from different companies costing only £7.95 to £9.95 each.

Investors were also miss-sold the investment opportunities through unsubstantiated claims, the court found. One investor was even told they could expect a 200 per cent return on their investment over a 10-year period.

Investors’ funds were paid into third party offshore bank accounts. Investigators were told the majority of funds were paid as commissions, though the court said that no supporting records have been provided to substantiate this.

The court also heard that Viceroy Jones New Tech used a network of unregulated financial advisory firms and targeted people that had access to their pension savings.

Cheryl Lambert, chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, said: ‘The companies and those behind them have showed no remorse in their calculated plan to scam investors of their pension pots.

‘Although the Insolvency Service investigation was hampered by a lack of cooperation, the investigation pieced together the numerous layers in which the scam was wrapped.

‘We take the matter of unregulated pension liberation investment schemes very seriously and will take action to stop any such schemes who have acted unscrupulously.’

Investigators have also been able to show that significant commissions were paid to the unregulated advisors, Truffle Sales Ltd, as well as to director George Frost and his brother Brian, who was a former director of Westcountrytruffles.

The last company shut down by the courts, Credit Free Limited, had not actively participated in the truffle scam, but had received funds raised in the scheme.

Using these funds, Credit Free Limited paid more than £1.8million over a five-year period to George Frost and to former director, Jeffrey Hawes.

]]>http://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/15/investigators-bust-9m-truffle-scam-remorseless-fraudsters-conned-more-than-100-people-into-investing-their-pension-savings-in-non-existent-farms/feed/0Court shuts down companies behind £9m truffle scamhttp://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/14/court-shuts-down-companies-behind-9m-truffle-scam/
http://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/14/court-shuts-down-companies-behind-9m-truffle-scam/#respondFri, 14 Dec 2018 11:47:05 +0000http://investor-protectors.com/?p=1609Courts shut down five companies that carried out investment scams promising high-value truffles for commercial sales. After a four day trial, five connected companies were wound up by the High Court in London on 12 October 2018, including: Viceroy Jones New Tech Ltd, Viceroy Jones Overseas PCC Limited, Westcountrytruffles Limited, Truffle Sales Ltd and Credit Free Limited. The Insolvency Service ...

Courts shut down five companies that carried out investment scams promising high-value truffles for commercial sales.

After a four day trial, five connected companies were wound up by the High Court in London on 12 October 2018, including: Viceroy Jones New Tech Ltd, Viceroy Jones Overseas PCC Limited, Westcountrytruffles Limited, Truffle Sales Ltd and Credit Free Limited.

The Insolvency Service has said that more than 100 investors were cheated out of their savings, totaling close to £9 million and potentially rising.

The court heard that Viceroy Jones New Tech used a network of unregulated financial advisory firms and targeted people that had access to their pension savings.

The advisors had close working relationships with George Frost, the common director of Viceroy Jones New Tech, Viceroy Jones Overseas PCC and Westcountrytruffles, and convinced the victims to transfer their savings into Small Self Administered Schemes* operated by Viceroy Jones New Tech and Viceroy Jones Overseas PCC based in the Seychelles.

Investors were told their savings were funding oak and hazel tree saplings inoculated with truffle spores planted and managed for 15 years at dedicated plantations worldwide. The truffles would then be cultivated on a commercial scale with investors and plantation companies benefiting from the sales.

However, investigators from the Insolvency Service found that no harvesting or cultivation has ever taken place to date at any of the plantations, including those in Spain and South Africa, despite the scheme first being sold to the public in 2012.

For example, investors paid anywhere between £750 and £995 per sapling with the promise they would see significant returns within five years after the truffles had been cultivated. But similar inoculated saplings were available to the public at the same time, costing only £7.95 to £9.95 per sapling.

Investors were also miss-sold the investment opportunities through unsubstantiated claims, such as having the option to trade out at any time of their contract and one investor was told they could expect a 200% return over a ten year period.

In reality, investors had little or no remedy in relation to their investments and had no contractual relationship with the plantation companies responsible for maintaining the truffle trees for the contracted 15 years.

£9 million worth of investments remains unexplained, with investors’ funds originally paid into third party offshore bank accounts. Investigators were told the majority of funds were paid as commissions, although no supporting records have been provided to substantiate this.

Investigators have also been able to show that significant commissions were paid to the unregulated advisors, Truffle Sales Ltd, as well as to George Frost and his brother Brian, who was a former director of Westcountrytruffles.

The last company shut down by the courts, Credit Free Limited, had not actively participated in the truffle scam. But it received funds raised in the scheme, along with commissions received from a separate carbon credits scheme also operated by George Frost and Viceroy Jones Limited.

Using these funds, Credit Free Limited paid more than £1.8 million over a five-year period to George Frost and to former director, Jeffrey Hawes.

Cheryl Lambert, Chief Investigator for the Insolvency Service, said:

The companies and those behind them have showed no remorse in their calculated plan to scam investors of their pension pots. Although the Insolvency Service investigation was hampered by a lack of cooperation, the investigation pieced together the numerous layers in which the scam was wrapped.

We take the matter of unregulated pension liberation investment schemes very seriously and will take action to stop any such schemes who have acted unscrupulously.

All enquiries concerning the affairs of the companies should be made to: The Official Receiver, Public Interest Unit, 4 Abbey Orchard Street, London, SW1P 2HT. Telephone: 0207 637 1110, Email: piu.or@insolvency.gsi.gov.uk.

The petitions to wind up the companies were presented in the High Court in London on 7 April 2017, under the provisions of section 124A of the Insolvency Act 1986 following confidential enquiries by Company Investigations under section 447 of the Companies Act 1985, as amended.

Company Investigations, part of the Insolvency Service, uses powers under the Companies Act 1985 to conduct confidential fact-finding investigations into the activities of live limited companies in the UK on behalf of the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).

Further information about live company investigations is available here.

]]>http://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/14/court-shuts-down-companies-behind-9m-truffle-scam/feed/0FAKE STOCKBROKER WHO TRICKED LIFELONG FRIENDS OUT OF £3M TO PAY FOR LAVISH LIFESTYLE AND PRIVATE SCHOOL FEES EVEN ‘DESTROYED’ HIS DAUGHTER’S LIFE WITH BOGUS INVESTMENT SCHEMEhttp://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/10/fake-stockbroker-who-tricked-lifelong-friends-out-of-3m-to-pay-for-lavish-lifestyle-and-private-school-fees-even-destroyed-his-daughters-life-with-bogus-investment-scheme/
http://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/10/fake-stockbroker-who-tricked-lifelong-friends-out-of-3m-to-pay-for-lavish-lifestyle-and-private-school-fees-even-destroyed-his-daughters-life-with-bogus-investment-scheme/#respondMon, 10 Dec 2018 11:49:26 +0000http://investor-protectors.com/?p=1614Victims of a fraudster who conned friends and family – including his daughter – into putting £3million in a bogus investment scheme have told how he ‘destroyed’ their lives. Mark Starling, 57, spent a decade convincing investors, including millionaires at his local rowing club, to let him manage their savings. Of the £3million handed over to him, he only actually ...

Victims of a fraudster who conned friends and family – including his daughter – into putting £3million in a bogus investment scheme have told how he ‘destroyed’ their lives.

Mark Starling, 57, spent a decade convincing investors, including millionaires at his local rowing club, to let him manage their savings.

Of the £3million handed over to him, he only actually invested £8,000 – of which he lost £2,450.

The father of three blew more than £1million on his children’s private education, property, cars and exotic holidays.

He was jailed last month for five years after admitting fraud and operating unauthorised investment schemes between 2008 and 2017.

The Daily Mail can now reveal the appalling web of lies Starling span by targeting those who loved him most.

His eldest daughter Rosalie, 27, invested at least £8,500 while his 29-year-old nephew Christopher Bullett put in a similar amount.

A total of 17 investors are set to lose a total of £1.8million. Some had cash returned to them over the course of Starling’s fraud.

Victims told how they were ‘suckered in’ by Starling’s charm as he played on his standing as a pillar of the local community.

He kept up the facade with faked monthly investment updates showing impressive returns, while pretending to go to business meetings in the City and on the Isle of Man.

At one point he even took investors on a trip to Le Mans race track in France – without them knowing they were funding it themselves.

Those he fooled included friends he had known for up to 35 years, and others who would dine with the family-of-five at their luxury rented home in Farnham, Surrey. An oil executive at Starling’s rowing club ploughed in nearly £500,000.

For some investors their losses will be ‘life-changing’ – with a pensioner having to return to work after trusting Starling with their retirement cash.

An office worker said she had invested tens of thousands of pounds in the hope it would provide for her children’s future.

A defrauded investor said: ‘Knowing that he was actually destroying peoples’ lives while putting his kids through private schools – it is just incredible. The most unbelievable behaviour I have ever come across.’

Starling’s deception began in 2008 when he told friends he had become a ‘proprietary futures trader’ and had developed a strategy that promised a low-risk investment with returns of up to 18 per cent a year

Mark Starling, 57, spent a decade convincing investors, including millionaires at his local rowing club, to let him manage their savings

One investor said she even joked with Starling, asking him: ‘You’re not going to run off to Bermuda with my money, are you?’ She said: ‘He was absolutely charming – a good laugh. He seemed so kind and genuine. A lovely family with the three lovely girls – why wouldn’t I trust him?’ Another investor who lost a small fortune said: ‘I just can’t comprehend how someone can treat friends and family this way – all the while living off their savings.

‘The impact this has had on people’s lives and their families is immense and makes this completely unforgivable. I have absolute hatred and anger towards Mark. he does not deserve any sort of comfortable life after this The fact that he has received such a short sentence and will return to the community is no justice at all.’

Starling spent £220,000 on property, £165,000 on school fees, £46,000 on shopping and £30,000 on cars. He spent £42,000 on family holidays, including annual ski holidays to friends’ chalet and two-week summer breaks in a Southern European villa.

Michael Hick told Southwark Crown Court: ‘Unfortunately the scheme was a scam from the start. The money was used to allow Mr Starling to live a comfortable life without the hassle of having to go to work or pay tax.’

Judge Philip Bartle QC, sentencing Starling, said: ‘He did not do a stroke of work over these years, he didn’t do a stroke of lawful, gainful employment … it was, in short, a pack of lies over a very long period of time.

]]>http://investor-protectors.com/2018/12/10/fake-stockbroker-who-tricked-lifelong-friends-out-of-3m-to-pay-for-lavish-lifestyle-and-private-school-fees-even-destroyed-his-daughters-life-with-bogus-investment-scheme/feed/0How to spot an investment scamhttp://investor-protectors.com/2018/10/24/how-to-spot-an-investment-scam/
Wed, 24 Oct 2018 11:15:43 +0000http://www.investor-protectors.com/?p=874If investment scams were easy to spot, the fraudsters would have given up and focused on a different area long ago. Read more.

]]>Tips on how to protect yourself against fraudstershttp://investor-protectors.com/2018/10/17/tips-on-how-to-protect-yourself-against-fraudsters/
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 01:59:07 +0000http://www.investor-protectors.com/?p=1158Anyone can fall prey to a fraudster – so learning more about the tricks scammers use is a key line of defence.

]]>Romford man who ran carbon credits scam disqualified from running any business for 15 yearshttp://investor-protectors.com/2018/10/12/romford-man-who-ran-carbon-credits-scam-disqualified-from-running-any-business-for-15-years/
Fri, 12 Oct 2018 07:17:20 +0000http://www.investor-protectors.com/?p=1160A Romford man who ran a carbon credits investment scam has been banned from directing any companies in the UK for the maximum 15 years.

]]>Future scam threats: what to watch out for in the next 12 monthshttp://investor-protectors.com/2018/09/28/future-scam-threats-what-to-watch-out-for-in-the-next-12-months/
Fri, 28 Sep 2018 09:54:48 +0000http://www.investor-protectors.com/?p=1154Bogus cryptocurrency investments, counterfeit goods, fake Euro 2020 tickets and modelling scams have all been flagged as threats by the National Trading Standards